


Creating Chaos

by greeny1710



Series: The Chaotic Trio verse [4]
Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Adopted Children, Adoption, Alternate Universe - Non-Famous, Angst, Child Neglect, Childhood Trauma, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Family Feels, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Drug Addiction, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Lots of tears, M/M, Nightmares, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-22
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:02:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27060877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/greeny1710/pseuds/greeny1710
Summary: Seb takes on a new case with his job that leads him to two very special little boys that just need someone to believe them.No one can anticipate just how special those boys will be
Relationships: Kimi Räikkönen/Sebastian Vettel
Series: The Chaotic Trio verse [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1594924
Comments: 78
Kudos: 208





	1. Seb takes the job

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so I figured as it is my 21st birthday that I should finally release the story of the twins. 
> 
> take heed of the tags, and each individual chapter notes as they will be featuring warnings of what will be mentioned. the twins backstory isn't fun, but I also figured that as it's my birthday I can't get yelled at too much lmao
> 
> **CW: Mentioned Child abuse and Drugs**

The second Sebastian walked through the door and immediately dropped to his knees to take a running Valtteri yelling ‘Daddy’ at the top of his lungs into his arms, Kimi knew something was wrong. Seb had buried his face in Valtteri’s little shoulder and cuddled him tight against his chest. Valtteri giggled as he climbed higher, his legs going around Seb’s waist and Poro the Reindeer thrown against his back, hugging Seb back as hard as a four year old could.

Kimi walked over to them and squatted down on the opposite side of Valtteri, running his fingers over Seb’s curls.

“What’s wrong?” He asked only for Seb to shake his head.

“Ich hab dich sehr lieb, Valtteri,” Seb murmured, kissing the little boy’s chubby cheek and running his hand over Valtteri’s short blonde hair. 

“Seb talk to me.”

“I can’t. Not whilst he’s awake,” Seb told him quietly, keeping his hands running over Valtteri’s back before addressing him, “But it’s dinner time anyway, isn’t it, buddy?”

Valtteri gasped and pulled away from Seb, jumping up and grabbing Seb’s hand to pull him towards the kitchen.

“Hang on, hang on, hang on,” Seb laughed, pulling his hand out of Valtteri’s and taking off his coat and blazer finally, hanging them up on the coat rack before toeing his shoes off and grabbing his briefcase again. “I’m just going to put this in my office.”

Seb wrapped his hand around Kimi’s wrist before he could follow their child back to the kitchen and dragged him in for a kiss.

“I love you as well,” Seb whispered, lightly pressing their lips together and trying not to laugh at Valtteri squirming his way between them to try and get them to break apart.

“Daddy! Dinner!” Valtteri protested. He pushed Poro up as far as he could reach to try and disrupt them, horrified that his parents would _dare_ to kiss in front of him.

The parents pulled apart, leaving Seb to deal with his briefcase and Kimi to deal with their child. He kept an ear out when he didn’t immediately hear Sebastian come back to them. 

“Val, sit on your chair and stay there a second,” he told him, watching to make sure the boy followed instruction before he went in search of his husband. 

He found Seb in his home office, sat on his chair with his hands tied. He’d rested his chin on top of his tied hands as he swung slowly back and forth, staring into the distance it seemed until Kimi realised Seb was _staring_ at his briefcase. 

“Seb, dinner,” Kimi told him only for his husband to nod and keep staring as though he hadn’t even realised what it was Kimi was telling him. “Seb! Valtteri needs his Dad.”

Scrubbing his hands over his face, Seb sighed and pushed himself up, taking a deep breath before he followed after Kimi. There was something hard in Seb’s eyes, almost as though he was already lost to the case before he’d even taken it on. If Kimi had to guess, Seb’s next case would already be one of those were he lost his husband for a while to the job, however he understood just how important his husband was to the world of law, and he’d never begrudge Seb the ability to do his job to the extent he did. 

Throughout dinner, Seb kept getting distracted, staring longingly at Valtteri however not taking in what the little boy was saying whenever he spoke to Seb. It took a few nudges from Kimi to knock Seb out of whatever weird headspace he was in, before he was seemingly back to his normal self. There was still something off, still something about the way that Seb kept staring at Valtteri, who was acting like his normal little self, his hand tracing over Valtteri’s hair and wiping his face when he got some of his dinner around his face more than normal.

“Can we play, Daddy?” Valtteri asked once dinner was over and Sebastian simply tugged the little boy into his lap, not saying anything. Valtteri frowned as Sebastian cuddled him close, kissing the top of his head and rocking him back and forth.

“Daddy! Want to play!” Valtteri whined, trying to push away from Seb no matter how hard Seb kept hold of him.

“Seb, let him go, he wants to play,” Kimi tried however it didn’t work. Seb shook his head and pressed his face into Valtteri’s hair, nosing his light blonde hair with his eyes closed.

Sighing, Kimi walked over and plucked Valtteri out of Seb’s arms, setting the boy on the floor and shaking his head fondly when Valtteri took off in a frantic run almost as though he was trying to get away from Seb out of fear he’d be trapped in his arms again.

“Talk to me, Seb, what’s going on?” Kimi murmured, sitting down on Valtteri’s vacant chair and taking Seb’s hands in his. “You’re scaring us, Seb. Val needs his Daddy and you’re going to freak him out if you don’t treat him like normal. He’s four, Seb, you can’t keep-”

“The next case I’ve got is against child abusers,” Seb interrupted, “ _Intense_ child abusers. Not just the smacking the kid around. I mean we don’t know just how bad it is, because the kids won’t talk.”

“How old are the kids?”

“There’s a few of them, loads of ages. Some boys, some girls. But it just hit me hard. I don’t get how someone can be a parent and hurt their kid. And I saw Valtteri’s new school shoes on the floor when I opened the door and it was just... that’s my baby. That’s my little boy. He’s the most important thing in the world to me, apart from you, and knowing that someone did that to their kid? It tears you apart, Kimi.”

“Isä! Tule tänne!” Valtteri yelled through the house, calling for Kimi to come and find him. 

“I know, Sebby, I know. But there’s a little boy right that needs his Dad, and you can get lost in this later, but our baby needs his Dad right now. Please, pay attention to him and treat him like normal. He’s _your son_ , Sebastian, and I know your job is important, but so is your son,” Kimi told him. He knew he sounded harsh, however Seb needed it. He needed the grounding and the reminder that whilst he had his job, he had his family too. 

There was a reason Kimi was the more level-headed one out of them when Seb was away from work. He was amazing at his job and Kimi still found it incredible to see the way Seb could almost switch from the soft, gentle loving dork that he adored to the badass, ruthless lawyer that could tear anything apart. He was brilliant. And emotional. And cases like this, the ones involving kids, always hit him hard when he was out of work and out of being surrounded by people who were working the same thing as him. When he was left alone with only his thoughts to stew on, that’s when Seb was vulnerable, and that’s when he needed Kimi to step in and be the one in charge.

“Go see what Val wants, I’ll clean up in here,” Kimi said, pressing a kiss to Seb’s forehead and standing up. Seb’s eyes dug into his back for a long moment before he felt a kiss to the back of his neck and the sound of retreating footsteps. 

Valtteri’s bright laughter echoed endlessly moments later, followed by the sound of footsteps as they chased one another around the room. Seb must’ve eventually grabbed Valtteri, most likely turning the kid upside down like he loved, when Valtteri’s laughter only got louder. Valtteri’s current obsession was Spider-Man, and he forever loved when one of his parents turned him upside down and he was able to pretend he was the webbed hero. 

Seb was a hero too. He just didn’t acknowledge it. 

Kimi left Seb alone with Valtteri for a while, letting Valtteri babble away about all the fun things he’d gotten up to lately at pre-school and distract Seb from whatever was on his mind. Kimi liked to think Seb was smart enough to realise he’d done that, that cleaning the kitchen up and washing the pots for two adults and a four year old didn’t take forty five minutes. However, Kimi had also been with Sebastian for over ten years at this point, and his husband, whilst _incredibly_ smart, was so damn oblivious sometimes that he really didn’t notice things. 

“Right, Val, it’s bath time, yeah? So, let’s tidy up your toys, put them in your toy box please, that’s it, good boy,” Seb praised, “Okay, you go to the bathroom and find your ducky, good lad. I’ll be right there. I just need to talk to Isä.”

Valtteri waited for Seb to undo the stair gates before he ran up the stairs, bounding into his room and, knowing him, looking for as many toys as he could feasibly take in the bath with him. 

“I’ll sort Valtteri’s bedtime out,” Seb told Kimi when he joined him in the hallway, “I’ll give you a shout when he’s in bed?”

“Sounds good. I’ve got some work to finish anyway.”

With Seb upstairs with Valtteri, Kimi got on with finishing a commission piece he had to do. Normally he only worked on it when Valtteri was at pre-school, leaving the time he was at home with Seb to be with him instead. However, tonight, Kimi anticipated that Valtteri’s bedtime routine would take longer than normal with Valtteri begging Seb to read him another story, which he definitely would give in to tonight. 

Seb had had harrowing cases before. He’d worked on child abuse and exploitation cases before. And before they’d had Valtteri nearly five years ago now, Seb had been _better_ about shutting his brain off from these cases and able to get distracted at home. Now that he was a father himself, Seb would see the abuse that these kids experienced and when he saw Valtteri, he couldn’t help but imagine his child in that situation. 

He was incredibly talented at his job, however Valtteri definitely complicated it in more ways than Seb anticipated. 

The joys of being a parent. 

He could hear Valtteri giggling upstairs, Seb talking quietly with him as Kimi carried on adding colour to the piece he was working on. 

Valtteri’s footsteps eventually came thundering down the stairs and Kimi made sure to put his pencil down before the kid smashed into his side and accidentally caused Kimi to slash colour across the piece.

“Daddy gon’ read to us! Come listen, please Isä! Ole kiltti!” Valtteri babbled, pulling on Kimi’s arm slightly to try and pull him faster. “Ole kiltti, Isä!”

Grabbing his son by his waist, Kimi chucked Valtteri over his shoulder, causing him to laugh and kick at Kimi slightly, begging to be put down when Kimi started tickling his sides through his pyjamas. 

“Is your Isä being silly, Val?” Seb asked, voice fond and warm where he stood in the doorway smiling at them. 

“He’s late for stories, Daddy!” Valtteri said.

“Silly Isä,” Seb sighed. He walked over to them, helping straighten Valtteri up and taking the little boy into his arms, leaning in close to whisper in his ear, “Why don’t you try giving him a big, _big_ hug and say ‘please come and listen to our story, Isä’ and see if that works?”

Valtteri nodded furiously and reached out for Kimi, still being held by Seb even though he now had his arms around Kimi’s neck. 

“Please come to the story, Isä!” Valtteri begged, looking up at him with wide blue eyes that reminded Kimi so dearly reminded him of Seb. He had to admit, when he saw Valtteri looking up at him and the loving smile that Seb gave Valtteri, he understood what was going through Seb’s head.

How could a parent, or any adult, hurt a child? 

Especially one so small like Valtteri.

“Of course, pieni.”

Valtteri cheered and wiggled out of Seb and Kimi’s hold, grabbing their hands and pulling them after him to his bedroom.

Seb curled into Kimi’s side as they read him his bedtime story, with Kimi left to read it whilst Seb stared at him. Valtteri’s tiny fingers were curled around Seb’s hand, with Seb running his thumb over his hand to soothe the little one to sleep. Or to give Seb comfort. It was probably the latter.

Valtteri, as predicted, tried to get another story out of them, which Seb, as predicted, was quick to agree to before Kimi could even try to remind him that it was bedtime. 

Seb read the second story, never once letting go of Valtteri’s hand until the little boy was fast asleep with Poro shoved under his chin and his blankie clutched in his other hand. 

Kimi sat watching him for a moment, watching the way that Seb looked over him, watching Valtteri’s rising and falling chest with each deep, sleepy breath.

“Come on,” Kimi whispered, pushing himself up onto his feet and holding his hand out for Seb to take. Reluctantly, Seb allowed Kimi to pull him up, however stopped to press a kiss to Valtteri’s forehead, repeating a soft ‘Ich hab dich lieb’ and then followed Kimi out, leaving Valtteri’s door ajar in case he needed them. 

They went down to Seb’s office, with Seb falling into his chair and immediately opening the briefcase. 

“Are you sure you want to know?” Seb asked, finally asking the unspoken question of if Kimi was actually in a state of mind that meant he could hear what Seb was going to tell him.

“Tell me. I’m not letting you suffer through this alone.”

Taking a deep breath, Seb shook his head slightly, muttering under his breath about ‘on your head be it’. 

Seb pulled a file out, holding it in his hands and closing his eyes for a moment before opening the file and looking at Kimi. 

The look in Seb’s eyes changed. 

Immediately the switch flicked, sending him from Seb, his little boy’s Daddy and the man Kimi fell in love with, to Sebastian, the lawyer. 

“This case is going The Hague,” Seb said, voice neutral as he stared at Kimi. They’d been living in Holland for nearly seven months, and whilst Seb was one of the most sought-after lawyers in the country for the exploitation of children, it had still been a while since the case had gone to the top courts. 

And when they did go to the top courts, Kimi knew that they were more than just bad. They were _harrowing_. Seb’s cases really were getting darker the longer he worked as a lawyer. 

“The case is that serious?” Kimi asked and Seb nodded slowly. 

“Yep, it’s giant. Four prosecutors, the entire office is working on this case. Even UNICEF are involved. They’re the ones pressing chargers.”

“So, you’ve been outsourced to UNICEF?”

“Kind of yeah.”

Kimi sighed heavily, falling back in his chair and ran his hand over his jawline, “It’s huge then.”

“Nine defendants, 157 chargers across them,” Seb said and Kimi whispered ‘shit’, staring at Seb with wide eyes. “Child trafficking, child smuggling, fraud, child abuse, drugs, endangerment of children. You name it, these fuckers have done. And the worst thing? About 70% of the chargers all relate back to two kids.”

“Two?! How many kids are involved?!”

“There’s dozens of kids involved in the smuggling, but the majority of the charges deal with these two kids.”

Seb’s voice was cold, staring at Kimi with a blank expression that Kimi never saw. It was weird to see it on Seb’s face. He was always so happy, joyful, excited. And yet this blank expression? It was weird. And with the way that Seb had interacted with Valtteri that evening, he perhaps could guess just why this case was hitting him so hard. 

“The kids that take up so many of the chargers, how old are they?”

“Not sure. It’s unconfirmed. That’s half the issue. We don’t know much about the kids that we still have to get statements from. Myself, Lois and Rosa are going to have to talk to them first hand.”

“Shit…”

“I think they’re Valtteri’s age from a preliminary report we have. Either a tiny bit younger or a tiny bit older. I don’t know. But I have to go and listen to these kids and grill them to shreds about what they went through, picking apart everything they say. And I don’t know how I’m going to hold it in,” Seb admitted, and for the first time since he’d started talking, his resolve cracked and emotion started to cloud his face, “I knew this job would be hard, but shit, Kims, if fucking UNICEF are the ones pressing charges, you know the shit that happened to these kids was fucking astronomical and there’s a very distinct chance I’m going to make it worse.”

Kim pushed himself out of his chair and walked around Seb’s desk, taking the file that he’d been toying with out of his hands and putting it on the desk. Cupping Seb’s jaw in his hands, Kimi pressed their lips together before pulling back and resting their foreheads together.

“You’re not going to make it worse. You are brilliant, you are going to get justice for those kids. They need someone like you, Seb, believe in yourself and believe in them. They’re going to need someone, be their person, Seb. Prove to them that not all adults are bad people.”

“I don’t know how long the case is going to take. I’ll be gone a while,” Seb murmured. 

“I know,” Kimi gently said, kissing him lightly, “We knew what this job would involve. But you are going to save those children. You’re going to prove to them that people listen and people won’t hurt you. You can do this.”

Seb nodded and curled into Kimi, tightening his arms around his waist. He pressed his ear to Kimi’s heartbeat, his eyes wandering restlessly around the room until they settled on the photo on his desk. It was a simple enough photo, one his Mum had taken at Christmas. Valtteri was sat on Seb’s lap, Kimi’s arms around them both as the three of them grinned into the camera.

With his baby fast asleep in his bed, Seb couldn’t help but wonder how any adult could ever hurt a child. The two kids he was told he’d been speaking to were apparently at the centre of the case with the children’s mother being one of the defendants. 

A mother was meant to love and protect their child, to go to the end of the earth to make their child smile. What was it about these two children that meant their mother resented them? Why had these children been born into a world of hatred when there were so many people that would love and raise them so damn well?

“You going to be alright on this case?” Kimi asked, keeping his fingers going through Sebastian’s hair.

Scoffing lightly, Seb shrugged, “I really have no idea. I think so. I’m just worried about the kids.”

“You’re supposed to worry about the kids, dumbass, it’s your job. _I’d_ worry if you didn’t.”

Seb laughed softly and smacked Kimi with the back of his hand lightly, smiling when he heard the man he loved more than anything on this planet laugh back. 

“You’re the fucking worst.”

“And that’s why you love me, Vettel,” Kimi murmured, tilting his head up and pressing a light kiss to his lips. “You’re going to do amazing at this case, and the kids are lucky to have you fighting their corner. Our son has an amazing role model in you. I’m so proud of you, kulta.”

“You sure you’re okay looking after him whilst I go away for work?”

Shrugging and nodding reassuringly, Kimi said, “As long as we can come and see you at some point, it’s fine. We’re going to miss you like crazy.”

“I have no idea how long the court case is going to be. I’m going up to meet the kids next week. I’ll only be gone a couple of days whilst we get preliminary statements, and I’ve also got to go meet the police.”

“What if the kids don’t talk?”

“Then they’re not going to enjoy being on the stand.”

“All the defendants are pleading not guilty?”

“Yep,” Seb sighed, closing his eyes, “And these kids are going to have to get quizzed on what happened. Apparently one of the kids is really talkative, so I’m hoping we can at least get through to one of them. Whether we actually can is a whole other deal.”

“You’ll do it. You’ll find a way. You’re so smart, Seb, you’re brilliant with kids, you know that.”

“I just keep thinking about how we said we want to adopt another kid and now I’m going half way across the country-”

“The Hague is an hour away, you’re not half way across the country, Seb.”

“I know, it just feels like it. Leaving you and Valtteri-”

Kimi cut him off by pressing another kiss to his lips, “Don’t worry about us. Save some kids, Seb. The world needs more people like you. Just don’t adopt one whilst I’m not there, okay?”

Laughing softly, Seb wiped at his eye to push away his emotions and nodded. 

“No promises.”

“You’re a menace, Vettel.” 

“That’s why you love me,” Seb replied, looking up at his husband fondly. 

Carefully, Kimi rubbed his thumb across Seb’s cheek and stared into his eyes. The case would be extremely long and extremely harrowing, and Kimi _knew_ that Seb was going to have a really fucking shit time working this case. Except there was something in Seb’s eyes, something deep in them that Kimi couldn’t really understand but after ten years with the man, he knew that there was something in them that he had to trust. 

Seb worried about leaving so soon when they were starting to look into adopting another kid, but Kimi had a feeling. 

A weird feeling that he couldn’t explain, however he knew his husband. And if these kids had as harrowing a life as Kimi expected, he really expected that one of them would end up coming home with them. Seb couldn’t say no to someone in need, and a sweet kid that just needed reminding that an adult would take care of them?

Yeah… 

Somehow Kimi doubted they were coming out of this case without Valtteri getting a new sibling.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be the first meeting between Seb and the Twins. Yes, it will be painful lmao
> 
> Kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr is at 3303andmore💙


	2. Seb meets the Twins

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **Content Warnings:  
>  Child Abuse  
> Drug Usage and Abuse  
> Child Trafficking   
> Child Smuggling  
> Child Selling**
> 
> seriously, take note of the tags. it's not fun. the twins went through some shit. 
> 
> however, I also want to say this is from Seb's perspective however it's two four year olds talking. They don't explicitly know what it is that happened to them as in they will not use graphic language (there's mentions about them getting hit however they can't articulate the word 'drug' for example as they don't know what that is). as it's also two four year olds talking, word choice is sometimes a bit weird because four year olds speak weird. just bear it in mind

Stepping out of his car, Seb was instantly met with two of his co-prosecutors, Rosa and Lois waiting for him by the entrance to the children’s home. The two boys that hadn’t had statements taken for the court yet were here, and as Seb looked up at the building, he questioned how such a cold looking place could house little bundles of happiness. 

Only, Seb doubted these two kids would have happiness.

“Lois, Rosa,” Seb nodded as he grabbed his briefcase and buttoning his blazer. 

“Morning, Seb,” the ladies echoed, smiling at their boss and following him to the door. 

The boys were apparently not very receptive to adults, and had been bounced between children’s homes and unable to be fostered due to some issues that Seb wasn’t entirely aware of. The state was keeping these kids’ lives pretty quiet. And as the children were apparently difficult to get through to, well one of them was apparently, the other one supposedly had a reputation for talking and talking and talking and Seb wondered if it would be helpful for not, each of the adults could take a different approach.

Rosa was warmer and more maternal, which honestly? Seb doubted it would work. If the children had trauma related to their mother it was highly doubtful that they’d be responsive to her.

Lois was more factual, which might work with one of them if any of the rumours Seb had heard about these kids were true, however if the one that apparently talked a lot had anything to do with it, Lois was probably a dead end too.

And honestly, Seb really, extremely, _highly_ doubted these kids would respond to him. 

Eight of the nine defendants were male. 

Eight of the nine defendants these children were giving statements against were male.

Eight of the nine defendants who had caused utmost trauma to these children were male.

Seb was a male.

These kids hated and were terrified of adults, especially males. 

This was going to end so badly.

“Good Morning, Farrier Legal Team,” Seb said to a woman who answered the door, “We’re here to discuss a case with two children in your custody.”

“I know who you are,” she said, looking Seb over with a curious expression, “Come on in. I’ll take you to the office. Formal procedures.”

“Of course, it’s no bother,” Seb smiled warmly, trying to keep this woman on side with being polite to her.

Sebastian had met with children in children’s homes before. They were always difficult cases to deal with and the ones where it involved abuse were always harrowing. 

There was something different in the atmosphere this time.

The building was cold. Not physically. There was heat coming from the radiators (why they were on in late June, Seb really could not tell you), children’s drawings pasted on the walls, toys scattered across the floor. It looked lived in. 

Seb just wasn’t sure if it looked like a home.

“Alice, Farrier Legal Team. Here to talk to _the kids_ ,” the lady that had welcomed them in said to the lady Seb assumed ran the joint.

“Actually I’m just here for two-” Seb attempted to explain only to be cut off.

“Yes, I’m aware who you want,” ‘Alice’ said and motioned towards the seats in front of her desk. “Take a seat. We have some legal things to discuss first.”

“A lawyer loves talking about legal things,” Seb hit back, plastering on his ‘service’ smile and taking a seat however this ‘Alice’ didn’t seem to agree. It wasn’t like Seb was here to make friends. He was here to get justice for these kids. 

“We’re awaiting the arrival of the children’s social worker. She’s running a bit late. The children have to be accompanied by her-”

“Well yes, they need a legal adult to watch over them,” Seb agreed. “They are children, after all.”

“Hmm, quite. I have some papers for you to sign. If you could all look through them and sign at the bottom that would be appreciated. I have to go and talk to the children ahead of their social worker coming, please stay here until you are fetched,” Alice told them, standing up and handing across papers that Seb had seen a thousand times before making a quick exit. 

Leaving before Seb got chance to question her, he noticed.

Interesting.

“You know the protocols, ladies, read through and check everything is in order. We don’t want a mess coming back on us,” Seb uselessly reminded them. Rosa and Lois were both seasoned professionals. Seb had worked with both women before and they were extremely talented at their jobs. His reminder was more so that HR didn’t bite him in the fucking ass for breaking protocol.

The papers were standard, nothing that shouldn’t be there and nothing added. 

That was at least one good point alongside this damn place’s name.

“Seb, what do we know about these kids then? Everything’s been so quiet,” Rosa asked once they’d all signed and put the papers back. 

Taking a deep breath, Seb scrubbed his hand across his face and admitted, “We currently still don’t know much. That’s why we’re questioning them for a while. Because we don’t know much.”

“How old are they?” Rosa asked.

Again, Seb had to shrug, “We have to check, but we think they are around four years of age.”

“Where are they from? I never saw that in the file. Are they Dutch?” Lois asked.

“We don’t know.” Seb held his hands up honestly and shrugged, “We’re not sure the boys even know properly what their names are or whether Max and Charles were simply the last names that were used for them and that’s what they remember. We don’t know their birthday, their country of origin, we think the younger one is Charles, but we’re not sure. We’re going to try to obtain some birth records going back through the system looking at where Max remembers things and hoping he can point us in the right direction.”

“But they’re only four...”

“Max apparently has an amazing memory. Which is both great for us-”

“And terrible for him, yeah,” Rosa finished off, “The trauma he’s going to exhibit is crazy.”

“Do we know the birth father? I know that’s something we’ve been waiting on,” Lois asked.

Seb shook his head.

“Drug addict probably. Maybe a dealer. We don’t know. Apparently when the boys were taken to the hospital to be checked over and tested, Max screamed and Charles punched the nurse, so we’ve been unable to do DNA tests and Max went selectively mute following it, thus police weren’t able to get any information. He’s apparently talking now, but we just have to wait and see if he’ll talk to us and help us,” Seb told them. “Look, I know you two know this, but I need to say it. This is going to be hard. It’s going to be scary. It’s going to be dark. These kids need someone to believe in them. And we are going to be that person. Please do not alarm the children if they say something uncomfortable. Try and stay calm and neutral, and keep them talking at a pace and tone they are comfortable with.”

“Yes, Seb,” Lois nodded.

“Of course,” Rosa agreed. 

Again, Seb knew they knew how to do their jobs. They’d questioned kids before. 

But this was different. 

This was so much harder and darker and more difficult to work with. 

“Mr Vettel,” someone said as they opened the office door, and Seb stood up to shake her hand.

“Sebastian, please,” he nodded. “And this is Rosa and Lois, my legal team.”

“It’s nice to meet you all. My name’s Sheila, I’m the twin’s social worker,” the lady nodded. She had a warm smile, a contrast to the two other ladies they’d met and was very short, barely past 5ft if Seb had to guess. “You’re here to talk to Charles and Max, correct?”

“Indeed we are. Is that still okay?” Seb asked and Sheila (still holding Seb’s hand in a shake, he noticed) nodded instantly.

“Yes, yes, yes, perfectly fine. I just wanted to have a quick chat before we meet the boys.”

“I was hoping we’d have a chat,” Seb smiled.

Sheila flicked her eyes back and forth between the three lawyers, trailing over them as though to assess whether she thought they were safe. 

“Max and Charles are extremely difficult individuals. Charles talks a mile a minute and is hard to keep on task. Max won’t speak unless Charles let’s him,” Sheila briefly explained.

“Is he controlled by Charles?” Lois asked.

“No. I’m not sure if you’ve been made aware, however Max has an amazing memory and he’s very good at remembering things. He doesn’t like to talk however, and so will only talk if prompted to by Charles,” Sheila explained.

“And they are brothers, right? I know there’s some contention about DNA testing.”

“The boys are twins, yes. This has been proven. The twins were tested using hair follicles and they have the recognised 99% probability of being blood related. Max and Charles have always said they are brothers, and their birth mother’s records are still being chased however we believe they will confirm birth of twins,” Sheila confirmed and Seb pulled a pen from his blazer pocket to make a note of it. 

“And are we any closer on country of birth?” Seb asked, only for Sheila to sigh sadly.

“Unfortunately not.”

“Will Max know?” Lois asked.

Sheila looked between the three of them for a moment, eyes switching to be hard from that soft warmth that had welcomed them.

“These boys have been through a hell of a lot. If Max doesn’t know, he doesn’t know. You can’t keep grilling him. He is _four years old_. You can find a new line of enquiry if you can’t treat him or Charles with respect, understood?”

Holding his hand up placatingly, Seb spoke softly, knowing the importance of keeping the twin’s social worker on side, “Absolutely. The aim is to of course not hurt the boys. We just want them to try and help us as much as we can. I want justice for them, Sheila, and I want them to be able to grow up to be happy, excited, well-loved and well treated young boys. It’s absolutely not my intention to make either of the boys feel bad for the information they give us.”

Sheila watched Seb again, face becoming blank as she looked at him, before an almost knowing smile befell her.

“I’ll check the boys are ready,” she answered. 

Leaving the three lawyers alone, Seb let out a deep sigh as he scrubbed his hand across his face. Nine years he’d been doing this job and still the fucking hoops you had to jump through to make people think you weren’t going to purposefully traumatise a child never got better.

Also, there was something about the way that the staff at this home kept looking at him that he wasn’t sure what it meant. 

He didn’t like being out of the know.

For some reason, the staff kept looking at Seb like there was more to him than just being a lawyer. Yes, he was a father himself, however it wasn’t that. It was like they knew something that Seb didn’t. 

“How do you want to do this, Seb?” Lois asked, pulling Seb out from the deep recesses of his mind.

“We’ll take a 1:1 approach. If the kids are used to lots of adults being around, it could be triggering for them and like we said, we want to limit that, so I’ll try with them first, if it doesn’t work, Lois you’ll go in next, Rosa you third. We’ll just keep trying different tactics until the kids feel comfortable,” Seb explained and both ladies nodded their agreement.

Flipping open a file, Seb sat back in his chair as he waited for Sheila to come back. The bureaucracy of children’s homes meant Seb was used to waiting, and he may as well check over some things whilst they waited.

There was only one photo of the boys in the file. 

And Seb hated it. 

The boys looked terrified, dirty, bruised, tearful.

He hated seeing the tears running down the bruises. 

The slightly darker haired one, Charles, was bleeding from his nose in the photo, with strong finger shaped bruises across his jaw and cheeks, whilst Max, blonder than his sibling, had a black eye and split eyebrow. The bruise around Max’s mouth apparently had come from being held with his mouth covered to avoid him shouting for help by one of the adults involved in the case. 

The photo had been taken by the police, a visual record of only some of the abuse these boys had experienced. 

Seb dreaded to know what mental abuse these boys had experienced.

“Sebastian, the children are ready for you,” Sheila said, coming back for them. “It’ll only be one adult at a time.”

“That’s fine,” Seb nodded, closing the file and tucking it under his arm as he followed after Sheila.

They walked down a corridor and Seb couldn’t help the small smile from decorating his lips at the sound of children laughing.

“They’re in here,” Sheila quietly said, knocking on the door a couple times before opening it. Seb allowed Sheila to walk in first, and it was only when she nodded that he went in too.

Sebastian walked through, his heart instantly breaking when he saw the two tiny little boys curled up together on a chair even though there were more than enough chairs for them to sit on one each. 

“This is Max,” Sheila explained, pointing at the boy with blonde hair, “And this is Charles,” and this time pointed at the boy with light brown hair. Seb already was aware which one was which, the file had their names under the photo, however it was still good to have it confirmed. 

“Hello, boys,” Sebastian said, kneeling down in front of them with about a meter distance between them. The two boys were clutching hands and had their heads pressed close, both looking down at their laps. 

“Boys, can you say hello, please?” Sheila gently asked. 

Neither boy did, and when Sebastian looked properly at them, it was as though they were both holding their breath. 

Slowly he moved away from them, shifting out of their eyesight and when he did, he noticed that Charles’ little chest started moving again. 

So they had been holding their breaths.

“Boys, Sebastian is going to need to ask you two some questions, okay?”

Charles flashed his eyes up quickly, the most beautiful wide green eyes that Sebastian had ever seen and he offered the boy the most reassuring smile he could. 

Not that it seemed to help. 

“Nein,” Max whispered, voice barely audible.

“Nem,” Charles echoed just as quietly, causing Seb to frown. Max had spoken German, or at least used the language from a country that used Germanic language, however Charles’ wasn’t the same, and actually, Seb had no idea what the boy had said. 

“That’s okay,” Sebastian told them both gently, trying to keep them calm when he saw their knuckles going white with how hard they were clutching onto each other, “We can wait until you two are ready. But I need to talk to you about your Mummy.”

What Sebastian hadn’t expected was for little Max to let go of Charles hand and slam his palms over his ears to start rocking back and forth.

What Max was whispering broke Sebastian’s heart.

“No, no, am good boy, no hurt, no no.”

“No hurt Max!” Charles screamed when Sheila got near them, wrapping himself over and around Max like a cocoon of protection. 

He’d barely spent any time in the same room as them, however Sebastian didn’t need to in order to understand why everyone kept saying these boys were complicated. 

They hadn’t just experienced something harrowing.

They were traumatised. They were scared. They were terrified of adults.

“Charles, I’m not going to hurt Max. I promise. I want to ask you about what Mummy did to you-”

“No!” Charles screamed again as Max started sobbing hard, “Mummy scary!”

“Why is Mummy scary, Charles? Can you tell me?”

“Hurt Maxy!”

“How did she hurt him, Charles? What did Mummy do?”

“Mummy used to hit us and made him eated the special food and Mummy used to lose us!”

Seb felt his heart stop, already having an idea what Charles was trying to get at without understanding, “What’s the special food, Charles, can you tell me? What did it look like?”

Charles was still folded over Max, kneeling on the chair and holding Max against his tummy as he went quiet. 

“Maxy?” Charles whispered, poking his ear, “What Mummy give us?”

It took a little while before Max’s sobs quietened and Seb heard Charles repeat the question. 

“Mummy said no telling,” Max whispered back, “Wir werden so Ärger kriegen.”

Clearly no one had told the boys Seb spoke German.

“Max, you’re not going to be in trouble. Mummy isn’t going to hurt you now. She can’t. Mummy’s far, far away and I’m going to make sure she stays there. And no one that knows Mummy can hurt you either. I’m going to keep you so safe, I promise.”

“Are you Spider-Man?” Max quietly asked, still looking down with tears rolling down his chubby cheeks however he chanced a brief glance up at Seb and Seb was instantly taken aback by how bright Max’s little blue eyes were.

“Spider-Man?” Seb asked. Max nodded clumsily, fingers tightening and loosening on his jumper. 

Valtteri liked Spider-Man.

Why did Max think-

The hero...

Heroes kept people safe...

If he was telling the boys he’d keep them safe, it only made sense that they’d think of him like one of the superheroes like Valtteri did. 

“I’m not Spider-Man,” Seb gently explained, “But I know Spider-Man and he says that I can keep you guys safe, is that okay?”

“Mummy not hurt us?” Charles asked and Seb shook his head. He shuffled a little closer to the boys, making sure to still keep the distance however sat down cross legged where they could see him.

“I’m never going to let Mummy hurt you again, okay? I promise. And Spider-Man wouldn’t like it if I broke my promise, would he?” Seb smiled encouragingly and Charles nodded. There was still a look of distrust in his eyes however he finally unfolded himself from being over Max and allowed him sit up a bit more. 

“Could you tell me what Mummy’s special food was? What did it look like?” Seb tried again now that the boys were a tad calmer.

“Mummy would put it on our mouth,” Max explained quietly, “With her finger.”

“What did it look like, Max?”

“White.”

“White what? Was it really, really soft or really hard?”

“Like sand,” Charles said and Seb nodded. 

“Okay, that’s really good, thank you boys. When did Mummy give you that?”

“Not for long time,” Max whispered, “He said it’s bad. And he said no. And when we used to go to the houses, he made me smile.”

“Who is _he_ , Max? Who are you talking about?”

“The big man with no hair.”

“Do you know his name?”

Max shook his head. “He said we not allowed to know.”

“Why’s that?”

“Cuz he don’t trus’ me.”

Frowning, Seb gently asked him, “Why wouldn’t he trust you Max?”

“Cuz I let Charles run away.”

Seb’s blood ran cold at Max’s admission, questions immediately flying through his head at a mile a minute.

Charles ran away? And Max got punished? When did he run? How? Why did he get caught?

“How old was you, Max, can you remember?”

Max’s lips twisted sideways and he shook his head.

For a second, Seb looked up at Sheila who shrugged. Clearly, she didn’t know anything about this either.

“What can you remember, Max?”

“The box.”

“And what was in the box?”

“Charles. And me.”

“Mummy’s friend put us in box cuz could go places then,” Charles explained. “And people not see us.”

“What did the box look like?”

“Small. With a blankie. And black,” Max explained.

“And lots of little windows,” Charles continued. “And Maxy got his hand through and did what Mummy’s friend did and made the door open and then Maxy said gotta run and so I did. I runned really fast Mister Seb Spider-Man.”

“I bet you did, can you show me how fast you ran, Charles?” Seb gently asked, knowing the easiest way into getting these kids to trust him was by allowing them to be _children_ and be silly, and Charles looked to Max and then back at Seb.

“No touch Max?”

Seb made a point of sitting on his hands, showing Charles that he wouldn’t touch Max and promised.

Charles nodded and carefully pushed himself off the chair, sitting on the floor and taking his shoes and socks off.

“Um, Charles what are you doing?” Sheila asked when both adults just stared at the weird change in behaviour.

“Mister Seb Spider-Man said gotta show how I runned.”

“Did you not wear your shoes when you ran?” Seb asked and Charles shook his head.

“Mummy’s friend taked them away.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Why don’t you show me just how fast you can run?” Seb said encouragingly and Charles took off in a sprint, running around the small playroom in circles. Seb had to admire it, for a very small (and extremely skinny) child, Charles really could run fast. He came to an abrupt stop in front of Seb, closer to Sheila than Max which Seb counted as a minor success. 

“And I runned and runned but then my foots hurted so I sit down and then Mummy’s friend found me and he hit me really, really hard,” Charles pulled up his t-shirt and pointed at just under his ribs in the central area of his chest. “I looked blue.”

“Was this the big man with no hair?” Seb asked and Charles shook his head. 

Charles wandered over to some papers and grabbed a crayon before instantly bee-lining back to Max and climbing onto the chair with the paper on his lap. 

“Charles draws when he can’t explain things,” Sheila said as Charles’ tongue stuck out of the corner of his mouth and he grasped the crayon in his left fist. The corner of the paper was crumpled in his right hand, however Seb knew that it wouldn’t matter. Whatever the kids could give them would be important.

“Max, can I ask you something else?” Seb waited for Max to nod (the boy was now sitting with his head on Charles’ shoulder blade and looking down at his brother scribbling away) before he asked. “Did Mummy ever tell you what country you lived in first?”

One of the big charges they’d got the organisation of criminal defendants on was child smuggling, with Max and Charles being the two biggest charges. Both boys were suspected to have been apparently involved in it for as long as they’d been alive, and no one was sure where it had begun.

Max fell silent (not that that was unusual, he was a very quiet boy). 

“I don’t know.”

“That’s okay, it’s not a problem,” Seb smiled, trying to keep the annoyance from showing. He wasn’t annoyed at Max or Charles. He never was. He just really hoped that they’d be able to figure it out. 

“Charlie, gyere velem,” Max whispered and Charles instantly dropped his crayon to climb back off the chair and took Max’s hand in his. Seb watched the two boys curiously as they walked over to the bookshelf, watching as Max looked for something as Charles aimlessly stood by his side. When Charles looked over his shoulder at Seb, he simply smiled at the little boy and was barely able to repress his smile from growing when Charles timidly smiled back. 

Eventually Max picked out a book and walked back over, sitting down on the floor with Charles curled into his side opposite Seb. It wasn’t much, however the fact that the boys felt safe enough to be on the same level as Seb warmed his heart. 

Max opened the book and lent over it, looking for something. When Seb looked, he realised Max was looking at a map of Europe, his finger moving over it carefully.

“Not here,” Max whispered, turning the page to a map of Asia. Seb frowned as Max shook his head again and turned back to the original map of Europe. He watched the boy flip back and forth between them, desperately searching for something.

“Not here...” He repeated, his frustration clearly growing. 

“What’s not here, Max? What are you looking for?”

“The letters wrong,” Max explained. Max grabbed the paper Charles had been scribbling on and turned it over, clutching the crayon in his fist and carefully drawing out some letters. They were a bit messy and hard to make full sense of, but when Seb looked properly he could make it out. 

pоссия

“Max, do you know what this word says in English?” Seb asked when Max turned the paper to show him.

Max shook his head and Seb carefully took it off him to look more carefully.

Fucking Russian...

That’s why Max didn’t know it. How the hell could this kid know the entirety of a country? The boys didn’t even have Russian accents. In fact, when Max spoke German, he sounded German. When Charles spoke whatever language he had, he’d sounded different. When either of the boys spoke English, they had a completely different mixture of accents. 

“Hjem?” Charles asked, pointing at the word and Max nodded. 

“Charles, what did you just say?” Seb asked and Charles repeated it again, “What does ‘hjem’ mean, buddy?”

Charles shrugged and took the paper back from Seb that had the Russian word written on the back, turning it back over and finishing his drawing. 

“What does ‘hjem’ mean, Max, can you tell me?”

“Umm...” Max tapped his hand against his thigh as he tried to think, Seb giving him as much time as he needed, before he carefully murmured, “Haus?”

“Haus?” Seb repeated and Max nodded. “Your house. That’s where you lived?”

“Mummy and Mummy’s friends was in it and they sleeped lots and lots and lots,” Max confirmed. “On the floor with the pointy things Mummy and Mummy’s friends say we not touch.”

Right...

Back to the drugs...

“Were they needles, Max?” Seb asked.

“What’s needle?”

“It’s a big pointy thing you put in your skin and it’s got special-”

“Mummy’s special food!” Charles excitedly input, “Mummy got her food like that!”

“Oh!” Max realised, nodding his agreement.

“Is the special food Mummy gave to you the same one that she had too?”

Max nodded, “But then Mister Mike says we not have it no more cuz then when they take us, they know we bad and we won’t get it.”

“Won’t get what, Max?”

“Coins,” Max explained, “Like shop.”

And there was the confirmation that they’d been sold.

“Did they use to take you places and give you over for money, Max?”

“We stay with a new Mummy and Daddy but then Mister Mike come back and we go away again and no see that Mummy and Daddy no more. And then we go to a new Mummy and Daddy, and Mister Mike took the pennies but then real Mummy would come.”

“Did you meet lots and lots of Mummy’s and Daddy’s, Max?” Seb asked and Max nodded. “How long did you use to go away for, Max?”

“Sleeped at new Mummy and Daddy’s for...” Max looked up at the ceiling as he counted softly on his fingers, “One, two, three... normally three.”

“Three days?” Seb tried and Max shrugged. He didn’t expect Max to know, he was only four, he barely understood what had happened to him, time was probably unknown to him. “That’s okay. Was it always three, Max?”

“Maxy went for long,” Charles murmured, still colouring away, “He went for aaaaaaages.”

“I not count that high,” Max told Seb sadly. 

“How high can you count, Max?” He knew Valtteri had been learning his numbers at pre-school, and he was able to count to ten in English, and they were teaching him currently to be able to count to twenty in German and Finnish. 

“Dreißig,” he said. _Thirty_.

How the hell-

“Mummy forgetted me,” Max explained. “I stayed for long long time.”

“You can count really high, Max, that’s amazing! Dreißig?! That’s a really big number! You are a very clever little boy,” Seb told him.

“I helped Charlie learn them too,” Max carefully said before a little smile broke out onto his face when Seb praised him.

“You are such a good boy, Max! That’s amazing. Charles is so lucky to have you.”

Max chanced a look up at Seb, cheeks going rosy before he looked back down at his lap. With the way Max reacted to the praise, Seb really doubted that Max had ever received praised such as that. 

“I love Maxy, Mister Seb Spider-Man,” Charles told him eagerly before handing over his paper. “This is Mummy’s friend that hitted me.”

The drawing wasn’t _amazing_ , however Seb had a four, nearly five, year old son. He knew what the general talent of a child that age was and it was normally an indistinguishable potato looking figure. Charles’, however? Seb could instantly tell which of the defendants it was. Charles had picked up on the defendant’s crooked nose, slit eyebrows, and the tear mark tattoo on his cheek under his left eye. 

“And you don’t know this man’s name?”

“Mummy’s friend,” Charles told him. 

“That’s good, Charles, that’s really good. This is really helpful, thank you so much.”

“Mister Seb Spider-Man?” Max gently asked, voice slightly muffled due to having his knuckle in his mouth, and Seb turned his attention to him. “Are you German?”

Fucking hell the kid really was smart… 

How could a child this small determine an accent? 

Most children struggled through learning different countries when they grew up, however Max? Seb seriously thought that it wouldn’t be long before the kid was able to list every country in the world. 

“I am, yeah,” Seb told him with mild astonishment. 

“I liked Germany.”

“When did you live in Germany, Max?”

Max bit at his bottom lip and looked back at his map of Europe again. He traced his finger from Russia to Hungary, across to Spain and then Germany, moving up to Denmark next before going to Latvia and then finally stopping in Holland. 

“I think... eins, zwei, drei, vier... vier!”

“Four? You lived there fourth?” Seb asked and Max nodded. 

“Yep.”

“That’s really helpful, Max, thank you! Do you think you could tell me very, very slowly where you lived?” 

“I might forgotted one.”

“That’s okay.”

“Mummy wouldn’t let us look out the box.”

“Is that the black box? With the windows?”

“Yeah.”

“Was the box metal, Max?”

“It was really cold. And the rain used to hit us in it.”

“Okay, that’s really good, Max. I’m just going to go and talk to some people and then I’ll be back and we can have some more chats about what’s going on, okay?”

Seb stood up, expecting the boys to stay sitting on the floor.

 _Expecting_ being the key word.

“No! Don’t go Mister Seb Spider-Man!” Charles yelled, throwing himself at Seb’s legs and holding onto him. Max looked up at him with wide eyes that were quickly filling with tears. He was still sitting on the floor where Charles had leaped from, staring at them both. 

Sheila stepped forward and hooked her hands under Charles’ arms, pulling him off Seb so that Seb could leave the room. 

“Charles, calm down, Mr Vettel will be coming back. But he needs to go and talk to the other lawyers, he can’t stay with you forever,” Sheila explained and Charles kept screaming. 

“No go, Mister Seb Spider-Man,” Max whispered. 

“I will come back, I promise. I still want to help you. I just need to talk to someone first,” Seb gently explained, using the same tone he did with Valtteri when he’d told him that he was going to go away for work for a few days and had whispered for Seb to not go either.

Max looked over at where Charles was being held back by Sheila, watching as he got progressively redder in the face with how hard he was screaming to be put down so he could go back to Seb. Seb should’ve anticipated this would’ve happened, that the kids could potentially get extremely attached to him and him trying to go would cause problems. 

Only problem was, he was pretty sure he’d grown just as attached to them. 

This never normally happened. 

He’d interviewed orphaned and fostering children before, and whilst he’d always felt bad for them, he’d never had this attachment. 

But the twins? They were amazing. Charles was so incredibly adorable and Max was fascinating to listen to, and whilst they both stumbled a lot with English, not quite knowing how to say certain words, their matched proficiency with different languages was astonishing.

Kimi had told him before he’d left _“Just don’t adopt one whilst I’m not there, okay?”_ and Seb had laughed it off, thinking it nothing more than a silly joke.

Only now, Seb wasn’t sure if Kimi had some kind of superpower. 

The kids may see Seb as a hero, but Kimi was his. He’d sacrificed so much for his family, been the one that helped bring their dream of having a family to reality, and now was the one who Seb knew these boys needed.

Charles and Max needed someone like Kimi.

No

They didn’t need just someone _like_ Kimi

They needed _Kimi_.

“I promise I’ll be super quick, okay? I’ll be right back,” Seb told him. Charles was still screaming and so wasn’t listening; however, Max went back to looking at his lap and sighed quietly. Honestly, if it wasn’t for the fact that Seb was aware Max’s sadness was due to his fear that Seb wouldn’t come back like he was used to, he’d find it kind of sweet. He hesitated for a moment, watched the way Max started twisting his jumper around his finger and rocking slightly, trying to soothe himself. 

“Rosa, Lois,” Seb called out instantly the second he got out the door. He shut the door carefully, mindful that the boys didn’t hear him repeat what he was going to say. They didn’t need the technical language, not at this age. 

“Are they responding?” Lois asked. 

“Astonishingly well,” Seb told them, “Both of the boys are opening up. We’re looking at Russia as a potential birth country, and Max is going to help me compile a list. They’re right, he does remember. They are both capable of speaking a few different languages and Max has expressed that his Mother ‘forgotted’ him once, leaving him somewhere for over a month. I’m not sure currently with who, but the boys have pretty much confirmed without using the language that they were sold in the way we thought. Both boys were drugged from, I’m going to guess, birth and Max also confirmed that it was dog crates that they were smuggled around in by the description that he and Charles gave me. I want you to check police reports and speak to UNICEF about getting some Russian records opened up. We’re not going to let these boys down.”

“And the brother?” Rosa asked.

“Drew a picture of one of the confirmed defendants, Leonid Jakubi, and explained that ‘Mummy’s Friend’ hit him so hard he bruised him just under his sternum. From the sounds of it, it’s just physical abuse, perhaps some verbal but the twins haven’t said anything. I also want you to look into potential sightings of a young child in places such as Latvia, Denmark and Germany, who would’ve been seen without shoes on. I’ll get you a full list soon, but just start looking into things.”

“Okay, are you going back in?” Rosa asked, wincing when she heard Charles’ screams getting louder, “Is he okay?”

“He’s not reacting well to me being gone. Separation issues, from the sounds of it.”

“So the kids like you then,” Lois said and Seb shrugged. 

“Yeah I guess. I think they’re just happy someone’s keeping them safe.”

“Sounds like you like them too, Seb,” Rosa grinned. 

Shrugging them off, Seb smiled, “They’re good kids. Really sweet. Traumatised, but sweet.”

“You told the husband you’ve found your new kids yet?” Lois teased and Seb quickly looked around to check there was no children before flipped her off. A number of people in his office knew he and Kimi were looking into adopting, and it just so happened that these two _wonderful ladies_ were some of them. Lois laughed softly and winked at Seb. “We’ll get the records sorted. You go spend time with your kids.”

“They’re not my kids,” Seb reminded them.

“Yeah, but we all know you’ll adopt them by the end of this case. You adore them already.”

“Go and do your job, Lois.”

“Yes Sir,” Lois grinned, turning on her heel and heading back to wherever her and Rosa were working from.

“I’ll get a statement written up this afternoon,” Seb told Rosa.

Rosa shrugged and gave Seb a small smile, “No rush. Just make sure the babies are okay.”

“I will,” he reassured her and motioned back to the door, “Now he’s calmed down, I’ll head back in.”

“Good luck,” Rosa murmured, watching for a moment to see how the boys reacted through the door. 

Charles’ eyes lit up immediately and he flew off the chair, jumping over some toys and immediately attaching himself back onto Seb. His tiny arms tied around Seb’s thigh as he pressed his face into Seb’s leg, murmuring quietly. Max, however, was still sat on the floor where he had been when Seb left, only now the boy had a tiny smile on his face and a pencil in his hand. 

“Mister Seb Spider-Man, Maxy knowed the flags!” Charles told him excitedly, “He ‘membered them.”

“That’s amazing, Charles! Why don’t we go and look at what Maxy could remember?” He replied and smiled when Charles took his hand to pull him over to Max. Sheila was still watching them curiously, and when Seb sat down on the floor, Charles still sat close to Max however was also within touching distance of Seb. It didn’t seem like much, however for a child that was supposedly terrified of adults, Charles was doing amazing. 

Max, however, was still quite skittish. He shuffled back slightly so he was out of Seb’s reach and when Seb’s phone rang in his pocket, Max gasped and slammed his hands over his head, rocking slightly to try and soothe himself. Charles instantly bounced up onto his knees and started stroking Max’s hair, mumbling some four-year-old nonsense that made no sense to anyone but the twins. It was also in a language Seb couldn’t understand or recognise, which was definitely another issue. 

“You remembered the flags, Max? Was it the flags of the countries you got to visit?” Seb carefully asked and Max nodded even as he kept rocking. “That’s really amazing, Max! That’s really helpful.”

“I like flags,” He whispered.

“That’s super cool, Max! Do you know there’s a special word for people who like flags and get to spend lots and lots of time looking at them?”

Max shook his head.

“It’s called a vexillologist,” Seb said slowly.

Max repeated it back, stumbling over the word slightly however getting the general gist of it. 

“You are super-duper smart, Max. You could be a vexillologist when you grow up if you want to,” Seb encouraged, feeling a wave of warmth roll through him at the soft smile the little boy got on his face. Max really was worming his way into his heart, as was Charles, and they were so damn adorable that Seb couldn’t help but imagine how they’d get along with Valtteri.

That could be dreamt about later.

“Right, Maxy, let’s look at the flags, my clever little dude!” Seb said and pulled a small notebook out of his blazer pocket. He flipped to a random empty double page spread. Charles flopped down to lay on his stomach, leaning his chin on his elbows as he watched Seb write the words ‘Flags Max Knows’ on one of the pages. 

“Right, Max, very slowly, can you tell me which flag you remember first, or where you remember Mummy saying anything?”

“Россия,” Max repeated. 

“Is that Russia, Russia is home?” Seb asked and Max shrugged. “That’s okay. Do you speak Russian, Max?”

“Mummy sometimes did.”

“That’s very good, Max.”

“I speak little,” Max carefully said.

“Maxy speak German!” Charles helpfully answered instead. “And lots and lots and lots of other ones too!”

“He does speak German, you’re right, Charles! You can speak it too, right?” Seb asked and Charles nodded, floppy brown hair following over his eyes. God he was adorable. 

“Not good as Maxy though.” Charles explained only for Max to cut him off, “You do! You good!”

The twins started a back and forth argument, Charles saying ‘nuh’uh’ and Max saying ‘yeah!’, both of them trying to speak louder than the other.

“They’re very special little boys,” Sheila murmured and Seb broke away from looking at them to look up at her.

“They are. Are they always like this?”

“They share a bedroom. Separation anxiety. The twins are used to being separated however due to the whole ‘being sold’ to different families issue, they never knew if the twin would come back. The time Max went away for a while? He was gone for about six weeks. It traumatised Charles. They can’t do anything without each other. They sit on the same chair at the dinner table. They take baths together. They eat off the same plate. They’re complicated kids, and they need someone who is at home all the time to look after them. They need a family,” Sheila explained, giving him a pointed look. “They hate adults. They only respond to me. And yet Max can’t take his eyes off you. Charles wants you to stay. I don’t know what you’ve done, but you’ve given these kids hope.”

“I really like them,” Seb said.

“They really like you too.”

She knew what Sheila was trying to get at and he closed his eyes for a moment, a soft smile working its way onto his face as he scrubbed his fingers over his eyebrows. 

“Do they... do they get along with other kids?” 

God Kimi was going to _kill_ him.

Or maybe Kimi had always known...

Wouldn’t surprise Seb.

“How old?”

“My son is five at the end of August,” Seb explained, “He’s a surrogacy baby, not adopted.”

“What’s he like?”

“He’s a good kid, very gentle and kind. He’s at pre-school so he spends a lot of time with other kids. He’s quite quiet, but he loves spending time with me and his Dad.”

“His Dad?” Sheila asked and Seb immediately bristled. The Netherlands had been where Seb married Kimi due to it being the first country to legalise same-sex marriage and he’d never faced issues with it at work. And if this lady had an issue with it, Seb wasn’t opposed to requesting to have her taken off the case. The kids reacted well to him, he didn’t need Sheila around to help. 

“Yes. I have a husband,” Seb shortly answered. 

“What’s your husband like?”

“He’s an artist. He spends a lot of time at home. He’s a stay-at-home Dad who freelances.”

“So he’d be around all the time?”

Narrowing his eyes, Seb nodded slowly, “Yes.”

“Is he German too?”

“Finnish.”

“Max, sano Hei,” Sheila said and Max abruptly looked up, almost as though he’d forgotten the adults were still there.

“Hei Sheila, mitä kuuluu?” Max responded, looking nervously between them.

Slightly awestruck, Seb smoked and quietly asked, “He speaks Finnish?”

“He got bored,” Sheila grinned, laughing softly at the look of pure confusion on Max’s face, “And he started teaching himself Finnish. He’s a smart kid, and he needs pushing, Mr Vettel.”

“Mister Seb Spider-Man, I show you flags?” Max asked and Seb nodded. Max shifted a little closer as Charles fiddled with a crayon, keeping a beady eye on his brother as Max pointed at the Russian flag.

“Россия, первый,” Max said.

“What’s первый mean, Max?” Seb asked as he wrote 1. Russia

“Um... one?” Max tried and Seb nodded. 

“First? You mean Russia was first?”

“Yeah,” Max nodded and then moved his finger across to Holland. “Not stay long.”

Seb wrote down 2. Holland (first time)

Max kept moving his finger, stumbling through trying to explain to Seb in a mixture of English, German, the occasional Russian and a language he didn’t recognise how he was moved through Europe. Charles was still watching carefully however also shuffled forward to draw on the spare blank page beside where Seb was writing, crayon clutched in his left fist and not even thinking to check if he was allowed before he started doing it.

If Seb had to guess, little Charles was definitely the troublemaker out of him and Max.

The list of countries kept growing the more Max mentioned and Charles occasionally would matter something too.

Germany, Spain, France, Hungary, Denmark, Russia, Latvia, Holland, Belgium, even fucking _Monaco_.

The boys were better travelled than Seb and they were only three when UNICEF had finally been able to help the police track down and end the brutal cycle of pain.

Max’s voice became more indifferent as he spoke, fidgeting a lot and his fingers unconsciously tightening in his hair when he started to speak a lot. Charles automatically would pull Max’s hand away, holding it in his own before carrying on drawing. Clearly, the kid liked drawing, finding it somewhat calming to his brain, and as Max kept explaining, Charles was shaking his head back and forth and humming under his breath, until Max said, 

“They put blankies over our eyes.”

Charles went silent and sat still, not moving as Max started to explain slowly to Seb that they used to blind the boys so they couldn’t entirely see where they were and it was purely down to Max noticing flags when he was in the new Mummy and Daddy’s houses watching the news that he was able to understand what country he was in. Max was very careful about explaining it, making sure that Seb understood that they didn’t ever get told what was going on. 

“Mummy’s friends hitted Maxy when he ask,” Charles whispered. 

“When he asked what, Charles?”

“Why we was in the box and why we wear the blankies and why we get cold. Max went to sleep when they hit him lots and I couldn’t make him wake up and he was bleeding and he got a poorly on his tummy and his head. And Maxy stayed ‘sleep for ages and ages and ages and he started shaking once and I yelled for Mummy and Mummy was scared ‘cause they had to take Maxy away to the doctors but then he came back.”

“Do you remember that, Max?” Seb asked and Max shook his head. 

“Look!” Charles sat up and pushed Max’s hair aside, showing him a white line on Max’s head. 

“Can I touch it, Max?” Seb asked and when Max nodded, he carefully ran his finger across the scar. It had clearly been glued shut and Max’s hair had easily grown over it, meaning that even if he did cut his hair short one day, the scar wouldn’t be that visible. 

“Can I take a little photograph of it, Max? Because when we talk to the people about what Mummy and Mummy’s friends did to you, I want to show them how strong you are and how brave you was.”

“Can I do it, Mister Seb Spider-Man?!” Charles excitedly asked causing Seb to smile. 

“Of course you can, kiddo, come here,” Seb motioned Charles over and Charles came to stand in front of Seb. Seb pulled his phone from his pocket and pulled the camera open. He positioned it so that Max’s scar was clear and brushed Max’s hair up whilst Charles’ tiny hands rested against Seb’s.

“And press that button, Charles,” Seb murmured, “Press the grey button, that’s it, good boy. Thank you so much for your help!”

Charles grinned at him when he fell back to sitting beside Max, all the worry about bringing up his brother’s scar gone.

“Mister Seb Spider-Man, what gon’ happen to Mummy?” Max asked as Seb carried on writing some more notes. The notes weren’t fun and mainly detailed the information regarding the scar and involving looking into the kids files a bit more in depth to try and find out a bit more about the people involved in hurting these boys, especially now there was still physical evidence of an injury on one of the boys. 

Seb sighed as he shut his notebook, sliding it back into his pocket alongside his phone. 

“I’m going to come back again another day, and we’re going to talk some more about Mummy and Mummy’s friends. And then in a few weeks, me and you two are going to go to a really big place called The Hague and it’s a courtroom and when we go, we’re going to talk to lots and lots of special people and you won’t see Mummy or Mummy’s Friends ever again, and Mummy and Mummy’s Friends are going to go away for a long, long, long time and you never ever have to see her again, okay?”

“Mummy not hurt me and Charles no more?” Max asked with wide eyes and Seb shook his head. 

“I’m never going to let Mummy hurt you ever again.”

Charles threw himself forward, wrapping his arms around Seb’s waist and Max followed suit, shuffling up and wrapping his arms around Seb’s neck. Carefully, Seb put his arms around each boy and held them tight against him, protecting them from the darkness of the world. 

Yeah…

There was no way he was going home without these boys…

He just had to get them justice first and he would fight to the end of time to get it for them. 

“Thank you for keeping us safe Mister Seb Spider-Man,” Max whispered, his arms tightening around Seb’s neck in a way that Seb thought he’d never let go. 

Frankly, he didn’t think he wanted Max to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations:  
> Hungarian:   
> Nem - no  
> gyere velem - come with me
> 
> Danish:   
> hjem - home
> 
> Russian:   
> pоссия - Russia  
> первый - first
> 
> German:   
> Nein - no  
> Wir werden so Ärger kriegen - We will get in trouble  
> Haus - House  
> Dreißig - Thirty  
> eins, zwei, drei, vier - one, two, three, four
> 
> Finnish:   
> Max, sano Hei - Max, say hello  
> Hei Sheila, mitä kuuluu? - Hello Sheila, how are you?
> 
> \--
> 
> Kudos, comments & feedback always greatly appreciated💙
> 
> Tumblr is at 3303andmore💙


End file.
